On the Liberal Arts
Posted 02-25-2013 at 06:33 AM by dazeddude8
On the Liberal Arts
Instead I am 26 years old still living with the parents, no girl, no job and back in school pursing a 2nd degree a more marketable degree than my first because all that talk about “study what you love and the money will come”- yea well that is complete and utter crap. Unless the “study what you love” happens to be: nursing, accounting, finance, business, engineering, computer science etc… some sort of STEM or more “practical” field you are screwed, you are bloody screwed. You say your passion is philosophy or art, or English or Sociology? Well awesome when you are working the register at Target or CVS, still living at home because you can’t afford an apartment on a cashier’s salary-hey buck up, cause college is about learning for the sake of learning and by god you are the most knowledge cashier about Anthropology out of all the other cashiers at Shop Rite and by god that is worth the 20k in student loans and dead end job!
That is life my friends, that is life if you chose to pursue the humanities and liberal arts. Your bud who majored in business, that chick who majored in Nursing, yea you probably worked just as hard as them and where just as passionate about your major but while they are getting a full time pay check and living on their own- you, you are hoping you no longer have to work Friday nights at Blockbuster cause the crowds suck and your supervisor is a dick. That is life, that is what they don’t tell you when they say “College is about learning for the sake of learning and pursing your passion”- complete and utter nonsense, in kinder words total bull****.
But wait you hear from the English advisor “Companies value your communication skills and need somebody with strong written ability so you should have no trouble finding work”. Ok that’s awesome there is hope, so take that mom and dad I will find work with my English degree! So you go to the next campus job fair, you are dressed all nice, resume in hand and in proud pursuit of your English degree. But then you realize something, as you go up to the each employers table and shake their hand and when they ask “What are you studying?” –you respond English or History or Communications (some sort of apparently “marketable” degree), you look at their reaction and you notice how indifferent they are. You might as well have told them “My major is Star Wars-ology” for the reaction is the same. They respond “oh that’s nice um but that is not quite what we are looking for…” BUT WAIT hey THAT’S NOT RIGHT, I was told that employers would appreciate the skills learned as a liberal arts major- THIS CAN’T BE RIGHT!
Anyway you shake it off, you make small talk, you effectively market yourself as best you can, you give him your resume and take his business card and the literature about all the different opportunities at Ernst and Young. Then you step back, you hang around a bit and he talks to the next student. Again the recruiter asks “So what are you studying?”, the student replies “Oh I am an accounting major and…” Boom stop right there, stop you look at the recruiter’s eyes and you watch them light up, you watch his eager and enthusiastic response as the recruiter goes on to explain all the different internship opportunities available over the summer. And you, you the eager and bright liberal arts major, you are standing there dumbfounded because you did not get nearly the same response when you told the recruiter “I am studying comparative literature”. Ok, don’t panic brush it off it was only one employer, you are sure you will get a better response going elsewhere.
So you visit each employer’s table and it is more or less the same. All that talk the campus career consoler said about “employer’s will value your blah blah blah and that employers hire more than just finance majors”- well that’s just it, it is just talk. You discover that the employer can be just as picky as he/she wants to be because there are hundreds of accounting and business majors out there so why should I bother hiring a liberal arts major for the position when I can hire someone with more applicable skills? But wait, Mr. Employer that’s not right! The English advisor told me that employers value the insight and skill of English majors, how come you don’t call me back for an interview? That is life my friends, that is crap you put up when you chose to major in liberal arts. And all that “Study what you love and the money will come, college is about studying for the sake of studying”, again complete and utter nonsense, in kinder words- total bull****.
So what is college? College is about or should be about preparing students with marketable degrees and skills. Simply put if employers, if the market tends to only hire students who are studying X, then by god the students should be majoring in X. And what about the “learning for the sake of learning, making you a well-rounded person”? Well let us see what comfort that brings you when you are working the stock room at Stop and Shop with your Sociology degree. Tell me what pride and happiness that brings as you toil in minimum wage hell and continue to apply to the Management Trainee Program at Enterprise Rent-a-Car (so I can finally get that “real job”) whilst your bud who majored in Nursing is making 50k straight out of school. Tell me what joy that liberal arts degree brings as you come back from dropping off your application at Wal-Mart and Staples. Tell me that you don’t spend your nights wondering to god, asking yourself where the hell did I go wrong, why I am still living at home with the parents and please god I hope Khols calls me back in the morning. Tell me that life is better taking that English degree, tell me that you don’t feel like complete and total crap making 12$ an hour and STILL living at home. Tell me that life is better having pursued the liberal arts.
That is life, that is the bull**** we are fed since high school and by nearly every psychology professor, every English professor, every Women’s studies professor, every liberal arts professor and advisor - “Don’t worry employer’s value the skills gained as a American studies major”. They say it to your face, they say it truthfully and with total conviction and you, you believe them and you stand there naïve and unaware of the complete hell that awaits you when looking for a “real” job. When the employer could give a dam about your insight regarding Macbeth and whether or naught slavery was the defining cause of the civil war. No they would rather hire the accounting major because his skills are more applicable or no Pearson-Pearson the publishing company would rather hire the computer science major over the English major because supposedly the editorial side is “dead” and we need highly technology associated graduates.
Are there liberal arts majors who make it? Certainly, of course there are. There are English grads whom actually get the internship or job at Scholastic, Penguin books. I imagine there are Anthropology grads whom actually got a museum position. And often you will read such news in newspapers or sites assuring students that in today’s world it is ok to major in liberal arts. But you know what you don’t see and or read about? You don’t read about the 150 other English grads who applied for those 4 openings at Penguin Books, you don’t read about the 30 other History and Anthropology grads applying for those 2 open museum positions. No you don’t hear, you don’t read about them. Instead you find out later that the guy pouring your latte at Starbucks- yea that guy, well he also applied for that museum internship but dam it to hell they only had 4 openings and about every history, anthropology grad in the area applied for that position. But it is alright isn’t it? After all college is about pursuing your passion and if it leads to that same minimum wage job you had in high school, well then that’s ok because after all you “Pursued your passion” and you are “Well rounded and are a citizen of the world”. Regale me again of what comfort that liberal arts degree has brought you as you get ready for that Wendy’s interview tomorrow.
Am I wrong? Am I wrong thus far in my proposition that liberal arts is a waste? I hope I am wrong, please, please prove me wrong. Please tell me that there is hope for liberal arts because as I sit here, as we sit here still at home, hoping that the manager at CVS calls back, there seems to be nothing. And to the employees of companies reading this, please tell me there is hope and please be honest. Can you say Mr. Human Resources manager, Ms. Recruiter at KPMG, can you tell me with a straight face that you would bring on a history major, a English major just as readily as you would an accounting major? You- BNY Mellon (and yes I did actually apply for a summer internship with BNY), can you tell me honestly, that me with my Anthropology degree I have a shot at employment equal to my friend who is studying finance? How about you PSEG, Bank of New York, Prudential, Price Waterhouse Coopers-I majored in English, do I have a realistic shot at that internship or do you only prefer the business, management and computer science majors? But wait a second hold on, hold on! If KPMG and Ernst & Younger prefer to only hire accounting majors over the liberal arts majors then, then, then the career counselors lied? I mean they told me that “Employer’s appreciate the skills gained as an English major” and according to the college website “English is a valuable degree applicable to many fields…”, and yet I never get a call or email back, then, then the career counselors must have lied?
Let me be clear, I do not think there is anything inherently wrong with the liberal arts. I do not think there is less academic rigor in the liberal arts than the STEM fields. I do not think that the professors of liberal arts are any less accomplished or less passionate about their field than the STEM professors. I do not think that liberal arts students are stupid or lazy and just majored in liberal arts so “I can cruise for the next 4 years”. The problem with the liberal arts lies in its application or more to the point its lack of application to the working world.
Simply, the purpose of going to college is to attain a better job than if I had just stuck with my high school diploma. Before we go any further about “well rounded, learning for the sake of learning, knowledge for the pursuit of knowledge, art for art’s sake”- let me be perfectly clear; one goes to college to better increase his chance of employment than if one was only a high school graduate. For why else would a sane person spend 40-50k over 4 years and graduate with 18k in student loans if NOT to increase his/her chance at landing a decent job? There is no other reason, there is no alternative, one goes to college so that he/she will get a good job post college.
The lack of application regarding the liberal arts is simply, employers do not see the value of the liberal arts, they do not hire the liberal arts grad. That internship that would be perfect, that would introduce you to the ins and outs of the business world? Sorry liberal arts guy you just lost that internship to your bud who is majoring in accounting. That entry level sales position with Prudential? Sorry it requires 1-2 years of experience and even if you and your business major friend both had no experience-he would still get the call for the interview over you. We can defend up and down the merits of the liberal arts degree but if no one is hiring the liberal arts grad, then there is clearly a problem. There is without question a fault, a problem with high education when it comes to the point that grads cannot find work better than the Sports Authority gig they had over the summer. That problem is either with the Universities exclaiming the supposed ‘merits’ of the liberal art degree or short sightedness on the employers part for seeing no value in the liberal art major- but it is clear that there is a problem.
What does the liberal arts grad want? The exact same as the nursing grad, the finance grad, the engineering grad, the computer science grad- a start that is all, that first job, that first internship that builds the resume. I am not looking to make CEO or VP and at least 80k straight out of college simply for the fact that majored in liberal arts. No I am looking for that first entry level position. I do not see myself ‘above’ data entry, or filing, or working in the mail room or getting you coffee. I do not see myself as ‘better’ than taking that unpaid internship or staying past 5pm every day. All I am looking for is that first entry level position. You say “Sorry you need more experience”-well here I am, I am applying for the lowest level, I am willing to start at the bottom- hire me, let me build that experience that you need. Dear employer you want experience? Well here I am, I understand I will have to start at the lowest rung to gain experience but if there is no bottom to start at how exactly do I build the experience you want? Dear employer I am here, we are here- hire us.
“Honey do you want to visit my parents this weekend?”- Sadly “Honey” only exists in my dreams because unemployment and living at home and my only immediate job prospect being Staples or Office Depot is incredibly hot and totally attractive. And that one bedroom apartment? Nope sorry can’t afford that working the stockroom at Target. And that entry level office job downtown? Nope sorry that job requires 1-2 years of experience, 5 previous references (sorry friends don’t count!) and yea I asked them how does one get experience if no one will hire in the first place-sorry they don’t care. Nope Honey, you are only in my dreams and I am still at home, still looking for work, still unemployed and still dreaming about you.
P.S- I am in a better place since writing this piece and I truly do enjoy what I am studying now. However these are just my true, unfiltered thoughts when it comes to the liberal arts and the purpose of college. The purpose of this writing? I suppose to vent is a big one, but also just a preface to those considering the liberal arts.
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